My passion for education and teaching could make this topic a book. Some of the chapters would be philosophical musings about the profession while others would be practical how-to’s. Rather than spouting out my entire thesis on teaching, I will narrow it down to my two most important traits for teachers.

1. Flexibility/Adaptability

Being flexible and adaptable in the classroom is my single most important quality in a teacher. Problems happen all the time. Classrooms are action-packed places with multiple personalities and even more needs that require the teacher to accommodate everything and everyone.

There are many times lessons don’t go as planned. A great teacher can adapt the lesson in the moment OR will know to pull it and use their flexibility to fill the time with something else.

A great teacher can read the room. Students are blue/tired/excited/stressed/whatever and they will not focus or produce decent work? Be flexible. A great teacher isn’t afraid to lessen the workload or give the students a free period. Elementary teachers may play a game in lieu of a free period. Yes, in a perfect world, the teacher would be able to make every minute a learning moment but sometimes it is more important to give your students the break they need.

This also applies to students individually. A student tells you they are having a hard time and need a break. Help them. Look at their workload in your class and make adjustments just for them.

Being adaptable/flexible doesn’t always mean making it easier. I created lessons that were too easy for students or they finished much faster than I thought they would. Add more. Be prepared to add another layer or element to an activity or lesson. Move ahead in the curriculum. Engage in an impromptu classroom discussion about the topic. Just because it wasn’t planned doesn’t mean you can do it.

A great teacher is flexible and adaptable.

2. Work life balance

I’m not going to pontificate on how this is important for every profession (although it is) but teachers are NEVER told to have a work-life balance. Society expects them to perform their job to perfection, every single day, and then sacrifice their personal lives to help the student body.

We see this all the time in movies. I get it. No one wants to watch the movie with the math teacher who teaches in an underperforming school, leaves when the contract day ends, and doesn’t somehow single-handedly revive the defunct theater program or math club. But those movies almost always feature teachers who have a failing personal life and somehow we are all supposed to cry at the end when the community gives them a standing ovation.

Now we seem to expect teachers to work for free after school, on weekends, and through the summer (which most do) and still somehow not burn out.

Teachers need to start leaving when their contract day is over and enjoying their time off. Having downtime is beneficial to everyone but in the long run, it will help with burnout and teacher retention.

No, this doesn’t mean to ignore the required work. Teaching requires a lot of prep work. Teachers need to do a better job at working smarter, not harder. Having a social media-ready classroom is much less important than having an entire week or month of lesson plans done. Busy work only adds to the teacher’s workload. Evaluate your assignments. Worthless work only piles up in the to-do file. Be respectful of your own time and of your students and assign meaningful things that will actually benefit their learning.

A great teacher respects their own time and doesn’t overwork themselves.

(Yes, as a former teacher I do realize that there are many other responsibilities a teacher has and I’m not addressing them here but that probably requires I write a series of blogs.)

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